


Noun: Animalia

by Daftpup



Category: Hockey RPF, Vancouver Canucks - Fandom
Genre: AU, M/M, Shapeshifter, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:11:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daftpup/pseuds/Daftpup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where people shift into the animal manifestation of their souls, competitive sports can be a little bit... complicated.</p><p>Eddie Lack, a young goaltender who has struggled with the shift all his life, learns this very quickly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Winter, 2013: Whistler, British Columbia

_Winter, 2013_

_Whistler, British Columbia_

 

It was cold as _shit_.

 

Roberto Luongo sat gingerly in the fluffy mountain snow, a frown plastered across his face. His flimsy toque, dark blue with the Canucks logo plastered across the front, did little to protect his ears from the bite of the British Columbian winter, and he was getting seriously concerned about frost bite.  Despite the cold though, it was sunny and bright in the small clearing he sat in. Sunlight danced off the icles hanging on branches of trees hibernating for the winter and the snow glistened and was undisturbed, save for two sets of tracks.

 

"Eddie," Roberto whispered quietly. "Eddie, c'mon, we need to go home. Talk to me, man. I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to..." he trailed off, guilt making his voice crack.

 

In front of him stood an elk. It's ivory antlers, sharp and pointed, branched handsomely from it's massive brown head. It's pelt was soft and flowing, and moved slightly in the chilled breeze. It's eyes, strikingly and unnaturally blue, stared the man in front of it straight in the face for a few moments before it took a step forward, leaning in and softly nuzzling the top of Roberto's head with it's cold nose. 

 

Roberto reached up and rested his hand gently on the side of the elk's face, petting in slowly. _Feels like velvet_ , he thought.

 

"Eddie. I'm so _sorry_."


	2. Summer, 1997: Norrtälje, Stockholm County, Sweden

_Summer, 1997_

_Norrtälje, Stockholm County, Sweden_

 

Eddie Lack let out an annoyed huff as he kicked a loose pebble on the ground out of frustration. His feet ached from the sprint away from his parents small house and far into the forest outside the town where he lived. It was days like these that he so desperately needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the town and all the people in it. After a frustrating day at school, he had come home to find his parents waiting for him, angry looks plastered across their faces. Eddie couldn’t really blame them for being upset. After all, he’d be upset it someone turned into an Elk and chased him down, bellowing and swatting his undeveloped antlers about, too.

 

Though shifters were not uncommon in the modern world, and it was not quite against the law in Sweden to transform in a public place, it was extremely frowned upon and very, very taboo. To transform, or shift into an animal manifestation of your soul, was extremely exposing. Eddie couldn't understand why anyone would do it…. at least, do it _intentionally_.

School had been absolute hell for the young Swede that day. There were only a handful of other shifters in the building and those that were kept it under the radar as much as possible, though Eddie could tell who was who just by their scent. It was one of the small benefits that his animalistic side gave him. Though he knew who they were, and they them, he had never talked to any of them.  It was an unwritten rule to never, ever rat anyone else out. Eddie almost got away unscathed. Almost.

 

Someone had spilled the beans, and suddenly Eddie’s life had become very, very difficult. Not a day went by where his classmates didn't call him a freak, scum, and a disgusting animal. Though they’d never seen his animal form, when word had gotten around the cliquey building that he was, in fact, a shifter, they never seemed to leave him alone. Day in and day out he was shoved into lockers and thrown into dumpsters. He’d learned to handle it, never saying a word to his family or counselor.

 

Today, though, they had pushed him far and beyond what they normally did. They had said some horrible things about his mother and father, calling them all sorts of profanities and Eddie had just… lost it. He’d seen red and shifted right then and there. It was almost worth it for the look of fear and shock on his classmates faces as he had charged at them, animalistic instinct taking over. Almost.

 

 _Now I’m here_ , he thought as he continued walking. The sunlight glistened through the branches of tall trees well beyond Eddie’s age and the wind made their leaves dance in harmony to the birdsong breaking the silence. It was incredibly peaceful, and a much needed escape for the adolescent shifter. Pushing thorny branches aside, Eddie came to a halt at the edge of his favourite clearing. Inhaling the crisp forest air, he sighed and let the tension drain from his shoulders. Whatever happened with his school, happened. It wasn't anything he could control now. Dropping to his knees, he closed his eyes and focused, letting the change sweep over him and take him away from his human problems. Taking a step forward, the Elk lifted his head to the sky and breathed in, ears twitching as he listened to the world around him. From deep within, Eddie was relieved. The world always seemed clearer through cervine eyes.


	3. September, 2013: Vancouver, British Columbia

 

September, 2013

 

Vancouver, British Columbia

 

Insanity in the dressing room wasn’t an unusual thing, but the unorganized chaos that happens regularly in the Canucks dressing room might be a bit of a stretch even for the worst of teams. A large Harpy Eagle glares down from where he is perched on a shelf in the corner of the locker room in an attempt to escape the madness ensuing on the floor in front of him. On the tile of the locker room below him, a Wolverine is wrestling with a Doberman Pinscher, teeth flashing and claws unsheathed. Their snarls echoed loudly off the walls of the room and the raptor clicked his beak and puffed up his feathers in irritation. Getting thoroughly agitated by the noise, the bird let out a deafening screech, everybody in the dressing room froze and turned to look at the bird. He clicked his talons against the wood, a clear sign that he was _not impressed_ with their annoying behavior. The Wolverine let out a grumpy snort causing the Doberman to glare in his direction again.

 

“That’s enough, Burrows.” Henrik Sedin said with a roll of his eyes as he walked into the packed room, alerted by all the noise the shifters were making. Burrows flattened his ears against his head, looking away in annoyance, teeth still bared. Beside him, the Wolverine lifted its jowls in an innocent grin.

 

“You too, Juice. Don’t pull that shit with me.” Still grinning, Bieksa waddled over to where Kesler sat on a bench, a confused look on the mans face as Bieksa forced his way behind his legs, snuffling loudly.

 

“Okay, someone grab the over sized chicken from where he’s hiding and let’s meet on the ice in ten. New kid is coming for practice today. I expect you all to be on your best behavior… that means you, Burr. Two legs, not four.” And with that, already completely geared up, Henrik turned and walked towards the ice, brother Daniel closely behind him.

 

“You heard him. C’mere, KFC!” the eagle squawked as a pair of hands reached towards him. With a panicked swish of his large wings, he jumped off the bookshelf… and flew right into the face of their new rookie goaltender who had chose that exact moment to enter the locker room.

 

\----

 

Eddie was so nervous he thought he might throw up. Though he had met a great number of the Canucks before, this felt so official, practicing with them in their practice rink. Right now, he wanted nothing better than to run and hide - maybe change into an elk and run up into the mountains for a while. The thought was nice, but he had worked hard for this.  He had worked his entire life for this moment. All his training, his practices, the money spent, it all lead up to this. Finally, he was working for an NHL team.

 

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he stepped forward and reached for the door handle. Turning it with a soft click he pulled open the door and stepped forward… only to be met by a giant bird flying into his face.

 

“Shit! Holy crap!.” He yelled, falling backwards and landing on his butt with a loud thunk. The eagle squeaked in surprise, flapping it’s wings and trying to avoid puncturing Eddie with his talons. It was painfully silent for 1 horrible moment before the entire room burst out laughing.

 

“Jesus kid, you sure know how to make an entrance! I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Ryan Kesler. The wolverine hiding here behind me is Kevin Bieksa… hey, Juice, go change back so we can get to practice, yeah? You lazy bastard. Oh, right. The pouting Doberman in the corner is Alex Burrows, I’m sure you’ve heard of him. His bite is worse than his bark, at least that’s what our Boston friends tell us. And of course, the three to your left are Jason Garrison, Zack Kassian and Dan Hamhuis…” Kesler pointed to each of the men in turn, and Eddie had to remind himself to nod politely. He was, of course, seriously thrown off by the shifters in their animal forms. He knew Canada was liberal but… actually seeing them shifted without being in fear was… well, not a feeling Eddie was used to. It was going to take a while to adjust.

 

A loud screech drew him out of his shock, and the noise made Kesler laugh.

 

“Oh yeah, and the pigeon sitting on your chest… well, that’s Roberto Luongo.”

 

Eddie felt heat rise up the back of his neck as he met the gaze of the large raptor sitting on his chest quickly. The two stared at each other for a moment before Roberto seemed to grin (how that was possible with a beak, Eddie wasn’t sure.) and hop off towards one of the changing stalls, talons clicking loudly and rhythmically on the floor as he went.

 

Kesler took a few steps towards Eddie before offering his hand to help the young Swede up.

 

“Get geared up and ready to be on the ice in 10 minutes. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Welcome to the Vancouver Canucks, kid.” with a pat on the shoulder, Kesler gave him a smile and headed towards the ice, followed closely by Bieksa so had decided to change back into his human body.

 

And with that, Eddie was (sort of) ready for his first day as a Vancouver Canuck.

 


End file.
